About IFEX:

News by region:

IFEX Campaigns and Advocacy:

IFEX Email Products:

Opportunities and assistance:

Journalists injured in explosions

Eight Pakistani journalists were injured in a bomb blast in Karachi on 5 February, and four other journalists were assaulted by a mob immediately after the explosion, reports the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF).

The city was devastated with two bomb blasts within two hours. First, a motorcycle with a bomb strapped to it struck a bus carrying Shiite mourners. After most of the injured from this explosion were rushed to Jinnah Hospital, a second bomb went off outside the emergency ward with reporters on site. At least 33 people were killed and more than 100 injured.

Two days before, three reporters were injured in a bomb blast in Lower Dir in north-west Pakistan, report PPF and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The journalists were travelling with a convoy of security forces escorting U.S. soldiers to attend the opening of a girl's school that had been rebuilt after it was blown up by the Taliban in 2009, reports PPF. "Three U.S. soldiers, four female students and two Frontier Corps personnel were killed and at least 131 others were injured in blast."

Amjad Ali Shah, reporter of TV channel "Express News" told PPF that he and his cameraman received shrapnel wounds.

According to PPF, the Pakistani military has carried out several operations against militants in Lower Dir and dozens of girl's schools have been attacked by the Taliban.

On 28 January, five people were injured and 10 shops damaged in a bomb blast in a music and video market in the small town of Jand in Attock District of Pakistan's Punjab province. PPF reports that six months ago music and video shop owners had received threats from unknown individuals "warning them against selling vulgar videos."

Journalist Zaffar Abbas told CPJ that television managers in Pakistan had joined forces to come up with guidelines for covering the increasing violence and to also address safety issues for journalists.

Local media organisations and foreign news agencies must provide proper protective gear and safety training for Pakistani staff, says CPJ. "Safety training for journalists includes more than dodging shrapnel from bombs, and includes reading crowd reactions and how to protect yourself when you're under assault from civilians."